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Cuban AITairs. 



SPEECH ^ 

OF .jj^ 

HON. JOSEPH B.^^ORAKER, 

OP OHIO, 

In the Senate of the United States, 

Wednesday, April 20, 1S9S. 



CUBAN AFFAIRS. 



Mr. FORAKER. Will the Senator from Colorado allow me to 
interrupt him a moment? 

Mr. TELLER. Certainly. 

Mr. FORAKER. I do not want to engage in this debate, but 
in view of the fact that I insisted as earnestly as I could upon the 
recognition of the Republic of Cuba, I wish to call attention in 
this connection to what was said in the Senate on the 28th of 
February, 1896, by the present Secretary of State, Mr. Sherman, 
who was then a Senator from Ohio. He said: 

The objection has been made, not in debate here, but in the public press, 
that the Cubans have no organized government; that they have no local 
habitation and name; that they have no legislative powers; that there is 
nobody elected to make laws. That is absolutely untrue. Here in this little 
pamphlet— 

Which I see, by referring to a previous part of his speech , was 
something that had been published in relation to the conditions in 
Cuba — 

are the proceedings of the government of Cuba and of the people of Cuba in 
organizing the government. Here is a statement of the growth of the rev- 
olution, of the battles and campaigns, and contemporaneous with these move- 
ments the preliminary organization of local self-government as constituted. 

Sir, much to my surprise, because I took up the general idea that those 
people, in the first instance, were merely a band of discontents, having no 
organization, with whom we could not deal, it is shown by this official docu- 
ment, communicated to the Secretary of State, that they have gone through 
all the formulae of self-government as fully and completely as the people of 
the United States did at the beginning of the Revolution. 

This little document shows the organization of the legislature, the military 
organization, the election of a president, M. Cisneros, a man of high charac- 
ter, of conceded ability, a man of property and standing, \. ho also, I believe, 
took a prominent active part in the i-ovolution of 1858 to 1878, besides being; 
eminent in civil life. 

Here are rules for the regulation of the army. Here are stipulations made 
as to the treatment of prisoners, how they shall bs dealt with, and it is a re- 
markable fact that in all the battles fought by these wandering " robbers and 
bandits," as they have been called, v/henever they captured a soldier of the 
Spanish army they released him and allowed him to return to his command. 
This humane and generous treatment is far different from the universal cus- 
tom of the Spanish troops when one of the rebels is taken. He is sent to a 
prison in Africa by the Spanish troops or is treated harshly and in some casfi« 
3254 1 






68084 

f^, ^^ 2 

Q^ Co 

^7»murclered. These are poor men; the army is composed of native Cubans and 
^ men some of whom have been freed from slavery, black people, but they have 
.. • shown no signs of being guilty of the barbarous atrocity of which I shall have 
^ to speak hereafter, I am'afraid injudiciously. 

^* That is as far as I care to read. The part to which I wanted to 
^ call attention, particularly, was the statement made by Mr. Sher- 
man two years ago in the Senate that he had been surprised, as I 
was surprised, when he came to investigate, to find that they had 
a government thoroughly organized and in successful operation. 
If'that was true two years ago, and unquestionably it was, and 
if it be true, as it unquestionably is, that from that day until this 
that government, with its army, has withstood the combined 
assaults of Spain upon it, it is a government which we have a 
right to recognize according to all the principles of international 
law, for it is'not only standing as it then stood in defiance of the 
power of Spain, but now it can be said, as it was not said and 
could not be said then, that Spain has ceased to be attended in 
her eiforts to conquer those people with any reasonable hope or 
expectation of success. That is said: it is said by the President 
of the United States in the message which he sent us. 

It was because two years ago the truth was, as Mr. Sherman 
stated it in the speech from which I have read, and because from 
that day until this that truth has been made more and more 
strong, that I felt in dealing with this question at this time we 
had a right to recognize that government, and that it was our 
duty to recognize that government. I think it was unfortunate 
that we did not recognize it, but it may not be as unfortunate as 
I imagined, for I think quickly, speedily, possibly even_ now, on 
the very day when the ultimatum has been sent to Spain pursu- 
ant to the resolutions that passed here, this Government has prac- 
tically recognized the Republic of Cuba, and I think possibly it 
is true— we will all know it by to-morrow morning— that that 
government is to-day being officially dealt with by the official 
representatives of this Government, as it should be. 

Mr. HOAR (in his seat). That has probably happened. 

Mr. FORAKER. The Senator from Massachusetts made a re- 
mark which I did not hear. 

Mr. HOAR. I beg the Senator's pardon; I did not intend to 
interrupt him. I exclaimed what was simply in my mind, with- 
out being conscious myself that I spoke. What I said was what 
the Senator is now saying and what I said some time ago would 
probably happen. 

Mr. FORAKER. Yes; I have no doubt the Senator predicted 
this, for he has been talking along this line, as I recollect, at vari- 
ous times. The only difference between the Senator and myself 
was as to when the recognition should come. 

Mr. HOAR. And as to the question of constitutional power. 

Mr. FORAKER. I have no trouble about constitutional power, 
I v,'ant to say to the Senator with respect to that question that 
every time he refers to it he talks about it as though it was a set- 
tled and established fact beyond all controversy that recognition 
is exclusively an Executive function. 

Mr. HOAR. The Senator will pardon me. He said the only dif- 
ference between him and me was what he stated, to which I added, 
"and the question of constitutional power," on which we a,lso dif- 
fered. I did not mean to make any affirmation about it except to 
state the fact of our difference. 

325t 



Mr. FORAKER. There is that adaitioiial difference. I think 
I have perhaps said heretofore in the Senate, and I want to say- 
again, that I do not at all agree with the Senator from Massaclm- 
setts that the recognition of either independence or belligerency 
is an exclusively Executive function. I want to say further that 
every time that question has been raised here in Congress, and it 
has been raised repeatedly, Congress has always contended that 
it had a right to participate at least with the Executive in all 
questions determining our foreign policy, including questions of 
recognition of belligerency and recognition of independence. 

But if the Senator from Colorado will pardon me just one min- 
ute turtuei-, I wish to say a word in answer to the suggestion of 
the Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Hoar] the other evening that 
the proposition to recognize the independence of the Cuban Govern- 
ment had been as he thought injected into this debate merely for 
purposes of discord. I do not think the Senator could have been 
very deliberate in his consideration of this subject when he made 
that statement. I perhaps have a special right to answer that 
question in view of the fact that I introduced that proposition in 
the resolutions which I offered in the Senate, and which have now 
in substance, except as to one proposition, been adopted. 

The resolutions that I introduced contained foiir propositions. 
One was that the people of the Island of Cuba are free and inde- 
pendent. That has been adopted. Another v/as that this Govern- 
ment shoiild recognize the Republic of Cuba as the true and lawful 
government of that island. The third was that by reason of the 
character of that war, in its results upon oiir commerce and be- 
cause of the humanitarian question involved, it was the duty of 
this Government to demand that Spain should at once abandon 
the island. The fourth proposition was that the President should 
^ be authorized and directed to carry these resolutions into effect. 
.^ Three of these propositions have been accepted. The one in re- 
• gard to the recognition of the republic was stricken out in the 
_i way all are familiar with. I had no thought of discord when 1 
introduced that proposition. I was familiar with this record. I 
supposed it was a conceded fact that they had at least a de facto 
government in the Island of Cuba known as the Republic of Cuba. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio will sus- 
pend for a moment. The hour of 2 o'clock having arrived.it is 
the duty of the Chair to lay before the Senate the unfinished busi- 
ness. 

Mr. MILLS. I ask iinanimous consent that the unfinished busi- 
ness may be laid aside informally. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas will 
allow the Chair to have the unfinished business stated. 

Mr. MILLS. Certainly. 

The Secretary. A bill (S. 2680) amending " An act granting 
additional quarantine powers and imposing additional duties upon 
the Marine-Hospital Service," api^-oved February 15, 1893. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas asks 
unanimous consent that the unfinished business be temporarily 
laid aside. Is there objection? The Chair hears none. The Sen- 
ator from Ohio will proceed. 

Mr. FORAKER. Mr. President, I have only a word or two 

more to say. I supposed it was a conceded fact, conceded by 

everybody, that there was such a government as the Republic of 

Cuba. I supposed all were familiar with this record, and I sup- 

3234 



posed surely it vras a conceded fact on the part of the Adminis- 
tration, the present Administration, when the present Secretary 
of State acting here as a Senator had employed the language 
which I have quoted. 

Furthermore, as an answer to the suggestion that this proposi- 
tion was introduced for purposes of discord, I will state that be- 
fore the proposition was introduced here I talked with the Presi- 
dent in regard to it. I showed him the resolution, and while he 
had some concern as to the form of it, I did not understand that 
he had any objection to it on principle. With me it was only a 
question as to the particular time when that resolution or some- 
thing else like it should be introduced. Events c^'nc qaiCKiy, one 
tiling •! olio wing after anotriur, and it seemed to me after the Maine 
report was in that the way was clear for some action to be taken, 
and that that was an appropriate time to introduce the resolu- 
tion, and I introduced it. 

That resolution was introduced at a time when it was being 
given out through the press, and I suppose it was at least a semi- 
official announcement, that the President had notified Spain as a 
condition precedent to everything else which might be agreed 
upon that there should be on the part of Spain a recognition of 
the absolute independence of the people of the Island of Cuba. 
That was given out, I supposed, with authority. We were made 
to understand in our committee that that condition precedent had 
been made, and I had no idea that in introducing my resolutions 
I was not in harmony with at least the general purposes of the 
Administration with respect to this question. And so it was I had 
no thought or purpose to create any discord, but was only intend- 
ing and purposing to discharge, according to my conviction, what 
I conceived to be a very grave, important, and responsible duty. 

That resolution was introduced, injecting that proposition into 
this controversy, I do not recall now how many days, but a week 
or ten days before the President's message came in. I supposed 
that when we received the President's message we would be ad- 
vised that a recognition on the part of Spain of the independence 
of Cuba had been insisted upon. I was forced to conclude when 
the message was read that that demand had not been made; other- 
wise surely the President would have made some mention of it. 

A day or two later, however, I saw in a newspaper what I under- 
stood to be a semiofficial statement that such a telegram had been 
prepared, and that after it had left the hands of the President. 
t;pon being revised by the Attorney-General, he had taken the 
liberty to strike out the word "independent" and insert in lieu of 
it the woi-d '"stable." But even that statement showed that the 
recognition of an independent government there was in harmony 
with the ideas of the President. The Senator from Nebraska [Mr. 
Thurston] has just now kindly handed me the newspaper article 
to which I have referred, and 1 will read it in order that it may 
appear in the Record in connection with the remarks I have jusfc 
been making. It is taken from the Washington Post. It is en- 
titled -'Why independence was omitted." 

It bec-:uii(! known yesterday why independence was omitted from themes- 
sage. When Prosideut MoKinley tirst made his propositions to the Spanish 
Government, he announced that the war must cease in Cuba and an inde- 
pendent 1,'ovornmont be established. This dispatch was changed by Attor- 
ncy-t-Jfueral Gripsjs to read "stable government," which, it was clanned, 
WIS th(! dii)lomatio phrase for the independence desired. When Minister 
■\A oodford submitted that dispatch to the Spanish prime minister, he was 
p.sKed if " stable government " meant independent government, and at once 
3254 



repliecl in the negative, assuriug Sciior Sap;asta that the United Stateslooked 
only to a system of self government like the Canadians enjoy. 

Afterwards, believing that ho might have made a mistake, Mr. Woodford 
cabled the President as to the intention of tliis (i^overnmont, and was promptly 
informed that the word "stable" must bo interpreted "independent." As 
all siiggestions f or independence had caused uuich indignatiim and resistance 
on the part of the Spanish aovernment. Minister Woidford feared to mate 
his demand, and, as a matter of fact, the ultimatum for independence was 
never officially laid before Spain, Mr. Woodfurd believing that it would be a 
constant irritation and menace in what might follow. He repeatedly sug- 
gested it to Senor Sagasta in private as being the view of the President, but 
as it hnd never Hoen «niitr'<-ted in writing, the President had to omit it from 
the message. This is l^ . -< tion semiofficially made of tho President's 

message. • - • ■ ■' ■ "' ''•''' i i-»-u-_ 

Mr. CHANDLER. Mr. Presitlent, may I ask the i^v..^cn,^./- . ' ^ 
Ohio a question? 
Mr. FORAKER. Certainly. 

Mr. CHANDLER. He having read the newspaper statement as 
to this diplomatic correspondence, 1 ask him whether the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Relations, before it made its report to the Sen- 
ate recommending the resolutions which have passed, knew what 
the diplomatic correspondence actually was, or were the members 
of the committee obliged to take it from a newspaper; and did 
they take it from the newspaper slip which the Senator from Ne- 
braska has just handed to the Senator from Ohio to refresh his 
recollection as to what the diplomatic correspondence was? 

Mr. FORAKER. Ans^vering the Senator from New Hampshire, 
I will state that the Committee on Foreign Relations has never 
been advised as to what the diiilomatic correspondence is, except 
only a statement has been generally made of the character I have 
already stated, that the demand of this Government was a recog- 
nition on the part of Spain of the Independence of Cuba. 
Mr, ALLISON (in his seat) . That demand was made. 

Mr. LINDSAY, ' Mr. President 

Mr TILLMAN, Mav I ask the Senator from Ohio a question? 
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator from Ohio 
yield to the Senator from Kentucky? 

Mr. FORAKER. I want the statement just made by the Sena- 
tor from Iowa [Mr. Allison] first to go upon the record. I un- 
derstand the Senator from Iowa to say now that the demand was 
made, but, if he will pardon me, I would rather he would make 
it in his own way. . 

Mr. ALLISON. Although I have no authority to say so, as I 
have not conversed with anybody who has heard it stated, I under- 
stand there is no question of the fact that that demand was made 
of Spain; that it was sent to the Spanish Government and a copy 
of it was sent to the Spanish minister in this city. 

Mr. HALE. That is, that the intervention of the President 
should be to the end that an independent government should be 
established; not that the so- claimed government of the insurgents 
should be recognized, but that the intervention of this Govern- 
ment should be to the end that an independent government should 
be established. I suppose the Senator does not think that tiio 
demand was put in the form of Spain being required to recognize 
the insurgent government. 

Mr. PASCO. I wish to suggest to the Senator from Iowa to be 
a little more clear in stating just exactly what that demand was, 
because his language is indefinite. , . . . 

Mr. ALLISON. One can not be very clear when he is giving 
hearsay evidence. Therefore I only intimated to the Senator 
3:254 



from Ohio that I had learned from sources which I considered 
reliable that in the course of this correspondence the President 
did f-ay to the Spanish Government that there must be an inde- 
pendent j?overnment in Cuba; and that demand was submitted 
not only to the Spanish G-overnment in Madrid, but a copy of it 
was sent to the minister here. Perhaps I ought not to say this in 
public debate, but so understanding tlie fact, I did say so to the 
Senator from Ohio in my seat. As I do not speak in this matter 
except, as I state, from hearsay, I can be no more definite in my 
statement than I have been. 

Mr TILLMAN. Mr. Trcoiaent 

i'he PRESIDING OFFICER. Does tlie Senator from Iowa 
yield to the Senator from South Carolina? 

Mr. TILLMAN. I should like to ask the Senator from Iowa or 
the Senator from Maine, or anyone else here who is expected to 
be the mouthpiece of the Administration on this subject, to an- 
swer this question: Is it the rule of the President to allow the 
Attorney- General to change a word in his dispatch to a foreign 
government without his consent, and is it the rule of the ministers 
sent abroad by the United States to refuse to deliver the dispatches 
that are sent to them? 

Mr. HALE. I do not consider this to be a very important con- 
troversy just now; I do not think the Senator from Ohio does. 

Mr. FORAKER. No; I do not, so far as the matter itself is con- 
cerned. 

Mr. HALE. It is not claimed by anybody, whatever the dis- 
patch was. that it originally was intended to be a recognition of 
the so-called government of the insurgents, but it was a proposi- 
tion that this country would intervene to the end that there should 
be in Cuba a free and independent government. 

Mr. TILLMAN. From whom does the Senator from Maine get 
that? Out of the air? 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Senators will please address the 
Chair. 

Mr. HALE. The Senator from Ohio has followed this matter 
very closely. I do not suppose the Committee on Foreign Rela- 
tions claims that that original dispatch, before it was at all al- 
tered, if altered by the Attorney-General, covered the proposition 
that Spain was to recognize that particular government, but that 
we should establish there a free and independent government. 

Mr. FORAKER. Mr. President, I never heard of the proposi- 
tion that we were to establish any kind of a government in Cuba 
until we got the message of the President. What I heard, what 
we all heard, in so far as I have any information, was this: That 
the President was diplomatically negotiating through our minister, 
Woodford, with the Government of Spain, and that in the course 
of those negotiations he had instructed the minister to make cer- 
tain demands, and that he had made a condition lirecedent to 
everything else the absolute recognition of the independence of 
the people of Cuba. That is the way it came to me. I have not 
seen the correspondence; I do not know what it would disclose. 
V>'e would be glad to see it if we could. 

Mr. LINDSAY. Mr. President 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator from Ohio 
yield to the Senator from Kentucky? 

Mr. FORAKER. If the Senator will pardon me just a moment 
until I add another sentence, I will state why 1 have dwelt upon 



it. I want to make it appear, by snowing these facts, that at the 
time when this proposition was incorporated in these resolntious, 
and wiien they were snb^eiiuently insisted upon, there was no 
thought thereby of creating any "discord. On the contrary, we 
thought wo were doing exactly what it wonkl be the purpose of 
this Groverumcnt to do, fori will confess franldy that it never oc- 
curred to me that if we were to recognize the independence of the 
people of Cuba, we would deny recognition to that political or- 
ganization imder the direction and control of which that inde- 
pendence had been achieved. I supposed the republic would be 
recognized, as a matter of course, if we declared that the people 
of the island were free and independent, and it was not an idle 
I)urpose we had in putting that into the resolutions. 

The reason may not have been valid for it, but my idea was a 
very simple one. I thought if we recognized the independence 
of the i^eople of Cuba, as we do in the first paragraph, and I 
thought we were* entitled to do it, according to the principles of 
international law applicable, we thereby at once changed the 
legal status of the people of Cuba from that of subjects of Spain 
to inhabitants of that island. That was highly important if wo 
were to have war, for when we make war on Spain we make war 
"on all her subjects everywhere. I am sure I did not want to make 
war on the Cubans, even technically. Then I had this further 
purpose. When I drafted the resolution and put the second propo- 
sition in, that we would recognize the Republic of Cuba as the 
true and lawful government of the island, it occurred to me, as I 
undertook; to set forth in the remarks I made the other day, that 
if we went down there and intermeddled, to use an international 
law term, in the affairs of another people, and drove the Spanish 
Government out and set up a government of our own, and failed 
to recognize the government that was there, we at least ran a 
serious risk of being liable for the debts for which the revenues 
of that island have been pledged. 

I have never seen the form of that pledge: I have never seen 
the legislation whereby those revenues were pledged; I have been 
unable to get it, although I have tried to get it. Therefore I do 
not know what the exact facts are, but I have seen it stated over 
and over again, without any contradiction, that by the Kingdom of 
Spain the revenues from the Island of Cuba have been pledged to the 
payment of a certain indebtedness, at least the intei-est. It seemed 
to me that we ran a risk of becoming liable for that indebtedness, 
and it not occurring to me that there was any objection upon 
principle to the recognition of the Republic of Cuba, but it occur- 
ring to me that by that recognition we could shut the door against 
that possible liability, I thought it" was wise to insert that propo- 
sition. That is all there was of it, and all this talk which has 
since arisen about a combination between Democrats and certain 
Republicans at the instigation of Mr. Bryan is entirely without 
any foundation, so far as I am aware. 

I have never had the good fortune to so much as even see Mr. 
Bryan. I never saw him to know him, at least. I have no ac- 
quaintance with him. I never had any communication with him 
directly or indirectly on this subject or any other. 

I have acted in this matter, Mr. President, from the beginning 

without a thought that partisan politics would at any stage become 

a feature of the controversy. I have felt that it was not a political 

question. It is a question, it is true, with respect to which politi- 

S254 



8 

cal parties have made declarations; but the true interpretation of 
the declarations which have been made in the party platforms 
wonld make them all mean practically one and the same thing. 

Therefore, in dealing with the subject, I have had no thought 
with respect to any of my colleagues to stop and consider and in- 
quire whether they were Populists, Democrats, or Republicans. 
I have felt this was a great national question, a great interna- 
tional question, a question in dealing with which we should re- 
member, not that we are Democrats or Populists, or Free Silver 
Republicans, or stalwart and unqualified Republicans, but only 
that we are Americans — Americans all. 

I have sought to deal with the matter in that spirit. I intend 
to go on dealing with it in that spirit. 1 have no feeling of hos- 
tility toward anybody who has a duty to discharge with respect 
to it. The duties of the President have been of the most serious 
and grave character. I think he has in the discharge of them un- 
dertaken, according to his best judgment, to do his whole duty. 
He may have made mistakes. I do not know who has the right to 
say whether he has made mistakes or not; but it may be that with 
respect to this matter he has perhaps not done exactly as others 
might have done if they had been in his place, but only time can 
tell whether the President has made a mistake or whether, if oth- ' 
ers had been in his place and had acted differently, they would 
have made a mistake. 

Let us, instead of cavilling about these matters and trying to 
draw party lines, remember that this is a question with respect 
to which we should try to be united; and it was because it was a 
question of that character that I was willing, after I had done my 
full duty in an effort to get a recognition of the Republic of Cuba, 
to abandon that proposition in the interest of harmony, and to 
secure an agreement and pass the resolutions. 

That is all I care to say, Mr. President. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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